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Ok, just to allow me to vent for a minute: Yesterday, at two different intersections, I was nearly hit by drivers coasting through a red light. One car was an older Civic and the other was a Corolla. Either the drivers were just plain inattentive or they purposefully ran the lights in order to avoid stopping. Generally, when I see someone trying to beat a light, they accelerate rapidly, but these two cars just coasted on through. Neither of these cars was even close to making the light.

Is this a hypermiling technique? I certainly hope not because some of you on this very forum may end up with a very up close and personal view of a 2 1/2 ton iron monster.

Rant off now. Thank you very much, I feel better now. :)

Is this a hypermiling technique?

No. It's a foolish and stupid driving technique. You are 100% right to criticize it. As much as I would like to find every light green, you just have to deal with it (by stopping!) when they're not.

The same applies to stop signs.

It would be one thing to make a decision to roll through a stop sign at a deserted intersection with good vision. Even then, if you get caught, no defense.

But plainly stupid to run a light or stop sign with other cars around, even if they are not bigger vehicles.

Well, it's a technique if you'd consider catching a ball with your eyes closed can be considered a fielding technique.

It's dangerous and more annoying than the technique I encountered today: DWLWFTOAHSOLRWLPO: Driving With Load With Following Traffic On A High-Speed One Lane Road With Limited Passing Opportunities. I'd like to DWL on my commute, but it's extremely selfish with people behind you. A couple of mph is forgivable, but 10-15 is not.

Generally, when I see someone trying to beat a light, they accelerate rapidly, but these two cars just coasted on through. Neither of these cars was even close to making the light.

Maybe these cars were trying to accelerate to beat the light but it just appeared they were "coasting" to you.

I'm going to be less polite than the others. Of course it's not a hypermiling technique! First of all the odds of you observing two different cars exhibiting ANY hypermiling behavior in the same day is infinitesimal, since probably not even a fraction of a percent of Americans know how to hypermile. The odds are a million to one against the possibility that those guys ran the light in an effort to save fuel.


Hypermiler: A driver who uses techniques like sticking to the speed limit, anticipatory driving, DWL, RR, FS, DWB, etc. in an effort to save fuel.
Idiot: A driver who uses techniques like running yellow lights, stop signs and crosswalks in an effort to save fuel. This person has not been to cleanmpg because they would know there are better ways to do it!


The people you encountered were almost certainly texting, yakking on the phone or otherwise just not paying attention. Those activities are 100 to 1000 times more prevalent than hypermiling. What, you assume because these guys didn't hammer the pedal when the light went yellow, that they must be hypermiling?! WTF? Not everyone drives with a lead foot, and that includes plenty of people who don't have a clue how to drive for fuel economy.

If you'd read up on what hypermiling IS, maybe you wouldn't have charged in here with accusations and the following threat (which apparently made you feel better? Double-WTF?!!)
because some of you on this very forum may end up with a very up close and personal view of a 2 1/2 ton iron monster.